Gareth: "looks like they're about to finish."

Watching the nearby Pillars of darkness a couple of meters away, Gareth noticed them beginning to change. Seeing the previously abyss black colour dim to a light brown, he knew the pillars would soon disappear. Focusing in on the Darkness, he picked up on outlines of the characters hovering within. Seeing them twitch and struggle, he could tell they'd already woken up.   

Tony: "Good, we should be able to get a move on soon then."  

Looking over at Tony, Gareth saw him impatiently tapping his foot against the ground. Since finishing their group war cry, he'd been impatiently pacing back and forth. It wasn't only him, everyone was impatient to some degree. After building up their morale and getting their blood boiling, it was insanely annoying to have to wait around. Luckily, they hadn't had to wait more than a few minutes.  

Solomon: "hopefully, it depends on how well they take the changes to their body."  

Getting up from the ground, Solomon spoke up with his opinion. Knowing that the characters were only normal people, he had already considered how they might react. Having been a normal person himself who suddenly gained mystical powers, he could understand their feelings. Unlike most people, Solomon gained his first enhancements before even setting foot in Domain. So in a sense, he could empathise with the characters who suddenly were put in a dangerous situation and given powers. 

Nicholas: "You think they're gonna freak out?" 

Curious as to Solomon's thoughts, Nicholas asked him a question. 

Solomon: "It's not just that. After this powerup, I'm worried they'll get full of themselves. If they try and use their newfound power to order us around, it'll become a problem." 

Though Solomon did consider them freaking out, he wasn't worried about that outcome. In that situation, it would only take a little coaxing to calm them down. Even if that failed it was unlikely they'd become delirious. So even if they weren't stable enough to fight, they should be able to follow behind everyone else. The main issue was with them becoming arrogant. After their power up, they would have a considerable amount of power. Though they would take a while to grow accustomed to their powers, even in the beginning they'd be stronger than the newbies. Though Solomon didn't think they'd be a huge threat, he still worried that they'd try to resist his directions. If they ignored his orders in a crucial moment, then their second benefit would become a handicap instead. But it was all dependant on the characters themselves. It was pointless to speculate about it. Before they emerged from the pillars, it would be impossible to anticipate their reaction. 

Pluvia: "We'll just have to take it as it comes at this point."  

Alice: "Yeah, I'm sure it will work out."  

Standing up from the ground beside Solomon, Alice and Pluvia jumped into the conversation. Nodding his head, Solomon agreed with their words. They had long passed the point of no return, So now any problems that came up would have to be solved on the fly. Everyone understood that at this point.  

Solomon: "Well, since they're starting to thaw out why don't we go have a look?"  

Curious as to how the characters had changed, Solomon walked towards the closest pillar. Having been unsettled by them earlier on, everyone had decided to sit a good distance away from them. But now that they were starting to show obvious signs of disappearing, no one had any issues with walking right up to them. Copying Solomon, everyone approached the pillar closest to them.  

Solomon: "Ah, that's a little depressing." 

Arriving before one of the pillars, Solomon peered inside of it. Even without the help of Qi, he could easily see the person floating inside. But as his gaze scanned over the inside party's body, he was disappointed to find it exactly the same as before. 

Nicholas: "That's Marlena, right?"  

Coming up to Solomon's side, Nicholas also peered into the dark pillar. Though he didn't have enhanced eyesight like Solomon, he could still identify the person right before his eyes.  

Solomon: "Yeah, and by the looks of it, she's got an energy enhancement."  

Nodding to Nicholas's question, Solomon added his own conclusions. Looking at how Marlena's physical form hadn't changed even slightly, he deduced she'd been given an energy enhancement. Because of that, he'd have to wait for her to escape from the pillar if he wanted to know what her power was.  

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Tony: "Woah!"  

Hearing Tony's exclamation to his side, Solomon looked over to see him staring wide-eyed into another of the pillars. Wondering what had caused such a reaction, Solomon walked over. Looking into that same pillar, he understood Tony's surprise. 

Solomon: "Damn."  

Nicholas: "What is that?" 

Following behind Solomon, Nicholas also saw the bewildering sight. Floating in the quickly disappearing black pillar was a vaguely humanoid figure. Standing at almost 9-feet-tall, with a lush coat of brown hair, was a bear. At least that's what Solomon thought at first. But as he looked over the gigantic creature a few times, struggling to make out its features in the dark pillar, he realised that wasn't completely accurate. Unlike a normal bear, this creature walked on two legs. It had facial features resembling a hairy human. Even more telling was the lack of a bears trademark snout. Taking everything into consideration, it would be more accurate to call this thing a bear man.  

Solomon: "I'd say some sort of were-bear." 

Answering Nicholas's earlier question, Solomon looked towards his two nearby teammates. Seeing them still staring dumbfoundedly into the pillar, he realised his words had gone over their heads. 

Tony: "Wh, who is that?"  

Recovering from his surprise, Tony looked over to see Solomon staring at him. Seeing him, Tony asked the first thing that came to his mind. 

Solomon: "I'm not sure. If we check out the others we should be able to figure it out."  

Walking towards the next pillar, Solomon was quickly followed by Tony. But the oblivious Nicholas remained behind, staring wide-eyed at the werebear. Approaching the next pillar in line, they both saw Sasha staring into it. Judging by her expression, it wasn't an ordinary person residing inside.   

Tony: "Thi, this is even weirder than the last one."   

Looking into this pillar, Tony completely forgot his curiosity towards the bear.  

Solomon: "Well, this is unexpected."  

Looking at the figure floating in this pillar, Solomon surprisingly recognised them.  

Sasha: "You know what this is?" 

Coming over to him, the little girl curiously looked up at Solomon.  

Solomon: "hmm, I do. This is an Ajin."  

Looking into the Brown pillar, Solomon could see a dark black human figure. Focusing in on it, he noticed that the figure was surprisingly not made out of flesh and bone. Instead, it looked like it was made of wisps of smoke. Subconsciously comparing it to Gareth's smoke, Solomon noticed some differences. First was the form of the smoke. Though Gareth's was like a flowing river that would surround his body, this smoke was completely stationary. The second difference he noticed was the gaps. If you looked closely at the figure, you'd see there were distinct gaps between pieces of it. Making it look like a mosaic artwork. But upon noticing those gaps, Solomon made a discovery. Inside of the figure was a person. As if transposed over that person, The figure's limbs matched up with the person perfectly. If that wasn't enough for Solomon to identify the figure, then the grotesquely misshapen head would have given him another clue. Taking the shape of a long spiral, the head was several times longer than a normal person, albeit less wide as well. 

Tony: "What is that?"  

Unfamiliar with the term Solomon had used, Tony asked him about it.  

Solomon: "It's hard to explain. You see Lily inside it right? That's because this is her Ajin. As it's part of her race she can summon out this black ghost thing."  

Pressing his memories for the details about the Ajin, Solomon gave them the best description he could. Though he didn't remember much about it, having read the manga a really long time ago.  

Sasha: "Is that it? She won't be very useful if all she can do is make this ghost thing."  

Understanding Sasha's incredulity, Solomon quickly answered her.  

Solomon: "From what I remember, an Ajin is completely immortal. No matter how they die, they'll always come back to life instantly. Though I doubt the system would give her such a power, it's the main trait of being an Ajin." 

Tony: "Even if she doesn't have that ability, just this thing alone would be plenty of help."  

With Tony's intuition, he easily felt how dangerous the seemingly defenceless ghost was. Having tempered his ability to judge enemies over several battles, Tony knew how deadly this "ghost thing" was. Put up against it himself, he doubted he'd last a minute. 

Solomon: "Yeah, it'll definitely be useful. Anyway, let's check out the last two of them."   

Walking over to another of the pillars, Solomon was once again followed by Tony. Sasha went off to retrieve her brother who was still staring at the bear man in bewilderment. Looking into the fourth pillar, Solomon saw the struggling body of Jason inside. Giving him a good once over, he was disappointed to find no changes on Jason's body. Based on that, it was likely that he'd received an energy enhancement. So, for the moment, Solomon couldn't determine what, or how useful Jason's power would be.  

Solomon: "Looks like another energy enhancements huh? That only leaves one the big one."  

Tony: "Yeah."  

Looking over at the last pillar, both Solomon and Tony knew they'd see something interesting. Unlike the others, this pillar was quite a bit larger. Compared to the dim brown colour of the other pillars, this one still retained most of its blackness. Never the less, it had shrunk quite a lot from its original size. Luckily it had gone mostly transparent as well, so even Tony could see through it. Looking at this unique pillar, It was obvious who would reside in it. As the only character receiving 2 enhancements, as well as four skills on top of that, Rob would naturally be the person inside. 

Solomon: "Well, we're not going to learn anything standing here."  

Realising Tony and himself had been standing in place spectating the pillar, Solomon took the initiative to walk forwards. Curious as to what the characters "leader" would receive from the system, Solomon boldly approached the last intimidating pillar. Following closely on his pigtails, Tony also approached. 

Solomon: "let's see what surprise you have in store for us."